Simon Grey

Name: Simon Grey

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Hunting, Volunteering (Homeless and Battered Women's Shelter, Retirement Home), 2nd Amendment Rights, 'Hero'.

Appearance: Simon Grey has a round face and a faint hint of a double chin. This build--an essentially healthy looking frame about five or ten pounds overweight--defines him: his belly protrudes, his pecs sag rather than bulge. His arms are well-defined--he can bench close to three hundred pounds on a good day, averages thirty or forty pull-ups a day, and was the winner of his junior high school's push-up competition--but besides this he is more pudgy than athletic. He is 170 lbs and is 5 feet, 11 inches. He is a bit far-sighed and wears glasses to compensate.

Simon has red hair which he keeps at about eyebrow-length and bright green eyes. His nose, ears, and eyes are a little bit too small for his face. His features are a bit too rough to be handsome in the usual sense, but he tends to wear a rather focused expression most of the time which makes his eyes particularly striking. His hands are thoroughly calloused from work--his mother may be a doctor, but his father is a construction worker and Simon spent much of his youth helping him with projects.

He favors jean jackets, t-shirts, and khakis above all other forms of clothing.

Biography: Simon Grey was the youngest of three children born to parents Erich and Jane Grey. His sister, older than him by twelve years and married, is Vanessa Harmon. His brother, older than him by three, is John Grey.

The defining event of Simon's life took place when he was four years old. His brother John was at a sleepover and his mother was working late at the St. Paul Hospital. His father had had a few drinks when someone knocked at the door. His father, inebriated, had opened the door without checking who was there and was shot through the stomach. The assailant, one Steven Vancouver, stepped over Erich Grey's bleeding body, slammed Simon (who had, somewhat astonishingly, thrown himself at the much-larger man in an attempt to protect his father) into a wall. His sister, also in the living room at the time, was raped before his eyes.

Simon does not have any clear memory of this incident--aside from being only four years old he had a severe concussion and was blacking out--but what little he recalls was traumatic enough to shape the rest of his life. Though Erich Grey survived and Vanessa did recover from the trying psychological damage, none of the three were ever quite the same. Vanessa was in counseling for years, and her marriage to her husband was hailed as a miracle by her psychiatrist. Erich Grey has done little constuction work since the assault, though he continues to direct the projects. And as for Simon Grey...

Well, the incident had several profound effects on Simon.

For one, Simon does not tolerate the abuse of women, verbal, physical, or sexual. He cannot abide any dominating talking from male friends--if it's from someone he likes he'll get angry and extremely vocal. If it's from someone he dislikes, he will get physically violent. And perhaps that, too, is a result of that night: Simon has trained his upper arms determinedly. Though he has only been in two fights in his time at Bayview, they resulted in minimal damage to Simon and broken bones for his prospective opponents (both of whom, admittedly, were drunk). Simon refuses to tolerate the abuse of women.

As a result of the home invasion and rape, Simon is a staunch supporter of 2nd Amendment rights. Combined with his hunting, this has given him an impressive knowledge of firearms, rifles in particular, and a passing familiarity with a 9mm handgun. While he concedes that most gun deaths happen as a direct result of accidents rather than shootings, Simon believes that this is a result of improper teaching regarding guns, rather than any inherent evil in the guns themselves. Thus he advocates better 'gun education' rather than any abolishment of firearms. As a part of his own faith in guns as a weapon to protect one's families, Simon makes weekly trips to the shooting range, usually using his father's Browning BLR although occasionally swapping it out for a shotgun or 9mm.

Erich Grey was a big hunter before the assault and remained so afterwards (one might think that being shot would instill in him some empathy for his prey but, alas for all the wildlife of Minnesota, no such luck). Simon, too, hunts, though his talents tend to be erratic. What few kills he has made were done in single, perfect shots--straight through the head--but out of a commitment to cause as little pain as possible, Simon only fires if he is certain this is the case. Of the nearly forty hunting trips he has logged since he was eight, Simon has only ever killed four deer.

Simon's service work started when he was around 13. His brother John, who never attended college, has been slowly taking over Erich Grey's business for years, and John often had Simon join him at work. Simon started working at Grey Construction's Community Houses--houses available at low rates for families of meager means--and since doing so has been incredibly active, working every summer on the Grey Community Houses and doing service work throughout the year.

Simon is not any sort of class officer but is involved with many of the school's community service clubs, primarily volunteering at the local retirement home, the Battered Women's Shelter, and the Homeless Shelter. Generally well-liked, Simon's circle of friends is small but especially close. His best friend, somewhat oddly given their quite distinct personalities, is Raidon Naoko (Naoko Raidon, as his Japanese heritage would require him to give it).

The friendship between Simon and Raidon was born initially out of their matching commitments to service; both Simon and Raidon do a great deal of volunteer work. Simon finds Raidon intriguing; what little he knows of Raidon hints at his tragic background, and the arguments between them reveal Raidon's outlook on life--much darker than Simon's, holding people to be inherently evil. Ultimately, Raidon and Simon are friends because Simon Grey likes Raidon; he finds the boy's quiet intellectualism relaxing and his genuine commitment to service refreshing.

Simon believes people to be inherently good, though he thinks circumstance serves as a powerful corrupting force. Much of Simon's community service is a result of his private obsession: above all else, Simon wishes to be a genuinely good person, a man of compassion and action. In essence, a hero. It is this wish that defines much of what Simon does as he struggles to stick to his unusually harsh moral code--to resist the corrupting influences of circumstance and be a good man at all times.

Advantages: Simon is familiar with the outdoors, firearms, and many camouflaging techniques as a result of several long hunting trips with his dad. Also as a result of hunting, Simon is quite patient: he will not let his recklessness get the best of him in most circumstances. And as a result from skinning animals, a knife would not be out of place in his hands, either. While not an especially outstanding physical fighter, Simon does at least have impressive strength. His reputation around the school for being a 'good guy' will likely serve him well in acquiring allies.

Disadvantages: Simon has a hero complex, plain and simple. He will not leave when it would be smartest to if anyone else is in danger. Simon is also rather slow--he has missed the 'healthy' mile requirement in school since he was 12--and not very agile in a fight. While not entirely stupid, Simon has little in the way of foresight and does not read very well people. His belief in the inherent goodness of people may make him easy to deceive. More pressing, Simon is not going to play it safe: if his situation gets the best of him he will become an active player, and if he maintains his ideals than he will be actively putting himself in dangerous situations. For all his skills, than, Simon has a high likelihood of dying.

Designated Number: Male student no. 072

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Designated Weapon: Viper JAWS (9mm) [4x clips (10 round capacity)]

Conclusion: These hero sorts are always amusing, especially when they're lying on the ground screaming, or abandoning their morals and shooting their prospective rescuees in the head. With that gun, I can't imagine B072 will fail to amuse.

'The above biography is as written by Grim Wolf. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Grim Wolf

Kills: None

Killed By: Maxwell Lombardi

Collected Weapons: Viper JAWS (9mm) [4x clips (10 round capacity)] (Assigned Weapon)

Allies: None

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: Simon Grey awoke in the darkness of the Tunnels in a panic. He was soothed by the presence of his good friend, Naoko Raidon, but the longer they talked the more disquieted he grew; Raidon, a pacifist who feared the sight of violence, was quite certain he was going to end up a killer. Simon, in spite of his doubts, offered his friend his gun, only to discover that Raidon had his own. They parted ways in the dark, still friends, but now separated. Raidon headed deeper into the Tunnels; Simon, to the surface.

He found himself on a beach, the ocean stretching away in front of him and Carol Burke and Kari Nichols in front of him. Kari was comforting Carol, panicking for no reason he could see; Kari asked him to give them some space and Simon stepped back, seeing Rein Bumgarner as he did so.

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Simon, in chronological order

Pre-game:
 * One Pen Two Pen Red Pen Blue Pen
 * Tending the Flowers
 * Let the Dance Begin!

V4:
 * Two Roads Diverged In A Dark Hellhole
 * Under The Sea Is Where No One Likes To Be
 * Missing Those Lost
 * Lean on Me

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Simon Grey. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * I think Grim said somewhere that he wishes Simon had gotten a chance to live longer and do more, and I'm inclined to agree. I think he fell victim to an odd variation on the problems regarding having kids with the same handler closely involved; Simon shined in his scene with Raidon, but without him felt a little bit lost. At the same time, keeping them together (maybe even bringing them together again) would've been unsustainable and likely would've brought down both plots. As it is, at least he got a nice death doing the right thing. Last stands are fun. - MurderWeasel